What's Oregon like? It's one of the states we very rarely hear about over here. I guess they don't have very many presidents/moviestars/moviestar governers/terrorist attacks/crazy rednecks compared to other states.

 

It is like the area of NZ that is very wooden, but with very tall trees. Unfortunately, it is clear cut all to hell and not very pretty from an airplane view. Logging is popular there. In NZ, I was amazed at all the straight tree lines to separate the farms.

Flux, when you go up the 101 from SF, are you going to go see Hearst's Castle? It is up that way but further north than where you are going, never saw it myself, just drove by on the 101. Also, that part of the drive is really crooked, meaning not straight. So enjoy the motion sickness. I think the view from Big Sur is better than up North that way. But you need to venture to the coast off of 101 where you are going. Enjoy, it was the best terrain I ever saw, the California coast that is, until I went to NZ and drove across most of the South Island. And I still want to go back to see more.

 

Opps, I was wrong the Castle is on the 1. I drove that one day from Humboldt to SF with a friend, when we had the day to kill while going to SF for a concert. Now that is an awesome drive, with the small coastal towns that the road runs through. If you want some beauty, go up the 1 til south of Eureka, and try to find Ferndale it has a Victorian strip of homes that are a nice sight. Don't forget to hit the Regan tree (You seen one Redwood you've seen them all sign on it) and the fallen Redwoods (6 of them from a 1930's flood) that are 15 to 20 feet in diameter, on their sides. Pretty awesome.

 

The trees in NZ between the farms aren't naturally there. They planted them as windbreaks between the farms so all the topsoil doesn't blow off - they just grow very quickly.

 

Oregon is pretty/lush to drive through on the west side, but on the east side it's kind of sparse & icky. My husband and I did a road trip driving from the Bay Area to Seattle via 101...on the way back down we crossed over the mountains to the East and took some roads on that side.

It was a while ago, but the 1 thing that sticks out in my mind about OR off of 101 was: motorcamper heaven. Quite disturbing, really.

 

I grew up in Oregon about 100 miles from the coast. It really is beautiful country. While it is true that a lot of the land was clear cut that happened decades ago and has been reforested since then. Of course there are still areas of hundreds of square acres with nothing but saplings, but the logging industry is no longer allowed to destroy the forest the way it used to.
The coastline is really quite pretty too, not much for sun-bathing or surfing but the jagged rocks in the huge surf make for some impressive photos. Actually the surfing would probably be pretty top notch if you had the balls/were stupid enough to try it. The waves are huge, but those darn jagged rocks sticking up all over the place would make for some tricky maneuvering. I would play the video game but certainly wouldn't try it IRL.
With the exception of a couple of larger cities (Portland and Eugene are the only ones that come to mind) most of Oregon is quite rural. There certainly are a lot of crazy rednecks, thing is there are also thousands of square miles of dense forests. A body could go undiscovered in the wilderness for decades, or so I have heard. *cough*
Eastern Oregonis like Nevada without casinos. Dry, desolate, barren. Why anyone would want to live there is beyond me. Of course I now live in Arizona, which is basically eastern Oregon only a hell of a lot hotter.
Sometimes I really miss my youth in Oregon, of course I never miss the 361 days of rain every damn year (seemed like it anyway). Oregon is a really nice place to visit (or dispose of a body) but there really is too damn much rain.